$1.45 million override sought

Selectmen voted unanimously Monday to place a question on the annual town election ballot seeking an override of $1,450,963.

Of that, $1,129,000 is for the increase in the town’s share of the Wachusett Regional School District budget and $321,000 is for municipal operations, according to Joe Becker, chairman of selectmen.

Some of the increases in the municipal operations include funding for a town administrator, training for assistant treasurer, increases for the assessors’ budget for revaluations, 19 hours reinstating the treasurers secretary, a 10th full-time police officer, adding a third sergeant, $13,000 for a lease purchase police cruiser, additional hours for a fire clerical position, increasing the fire department maintenance budget and equipment replacement, 24/7 EMS coverage, two full-time positions on the highway department, increasing library aides from 19 hours to 40 hours, a two percent salary increase for non-union positions, and increases in insurance and utility costs.

Becker said 78 percent of the increase is for the school budget and 22 percent is for town operations.

“That’s a big number,” Selectman Michael Pantos said. “But I think we’re obligated to let the citizens make the choice.”

“If you’re going to go for an override to increase town services we need to include everything,” Selectman Sheila Dibb said.

“Given the financial times we’re in, plus the increase in the WRSD budget, my opinion would be to level fund town services,” Pantos said, “but we need to put the numbers out there and see what the citizen’s want. They give us our marching orders.”

“We have to prepare for the real possibility this won’t pass,” Becker said. “It’s much more than we can realistically pay with the money we have.”

Finances in other towns in the region are also tight, Pantos said. Simple math says the town cannot fund an eight percent increase in school funding with a 2.5 percent increase in revenue, Pantos said. At a recent meeting in Boston, he said he learned the state’s first quarter revenues were “dismal” and towns should expect level state aid. The state also wants to move away from subsidizing regional school transportation, according to Pantos, and eventually that cost will come back to the towns.

“If passed, a $1.4 million override would translate to approximately $475 to $500 real estate tax increase per household, plus the 2.5 percent we can raise our levy by anyway. So, we’re looking at a tax increase of approximately $2.73 per thousand dollars valuation. That’s astronomical,” Becker said.

If the override does not pass and the other four towns in the school district pass the budget, the town could have to make cuts, according to Becker.

“Each department head would be given a number to cut out of their department,” he said.